Page:A handbook of modern Japan (IA handbookofmodern01clem).pdf/376
"5. More than one large and influential Chinese newspaper is owned and edited by Japanese, one of which is an especially strong advocate of closer union between the two great nations of the East.
"6. Nearly 100 Japanese students are in attendance at school in Shanghai, studying Chinese and English with a view to positions of usefulness in China.
"7. A large and increasing number of translation societies are being organized in Shanghai, the principal object of which is to get into circulation books on Western learning. The significant fact is that the large majority of them are translated from the Japanese rather than European languages, because, as they say, the Japanese have already selected the best, and they wish to profit by their experience. Books on Political Economy, General Science, Agriculture, Pedagogics, Ancient and Current History are now commonly on sale in Chinese bookstores, most of which are advertised as having been adapted from the Japanese."
There is yet another country which is feeling the influence of Japan; and that is Siam. No doubt much of this increased interest in "things Japanese" may be attributed to the recent visit of the Siamese Crown Prince to Japan. He is having a Japanese building constructed for himself; and the king is to have a Japanese garden and house added to the grounds of his palace. The trade between Japan and Siam is not yet very extensive;[1] but it is capable of considerable expansion. Siamese boys and girls have begun to resort to Japan for educational advan-
- ↑ Japan exports chiefly matches, lamps, and coal, and imports principally rice and cotton-seed.